Wood n' Lips Open Mic Newsletter

Stop by the Wood ‘n’ Lips Open Mic at Frubble every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

This Sunday, April 1, I will be leading the Folk Song Society’s music circle.  The theme is—what else?—foolish songs.  The meeting will take place from 3:30 to 6:30 at the New Expressions Music Store , located at 4434 30th Street in North Park.  Come on by—it’s always a good time.

On Monday I went by the hospital and visited Bob Cool; they were just getting ready to discharge him because his breathing had improved.  He has spent way too much time in hospitals lately with some really close calls; he isn’t sure what God’s plan is for him, but he says he’ll keep playing his music as long as he can.

Last Thursday we had a really nice crowd but it took a while to fill the musicians’ time slots—we did finally manage to come up with a full slate.  It’s gratifying that we’ve attracted such a fine group of people, musicians and audience alike.

6:30 – Tim Woods & Big Al – I led off with Peter, Paul & Mary’s “Five Hundred Miles”; Harry Belafonte’s “Jamaica Farewell”; Peter, and Paul & Mary’s “All My Trials”; at this point Big Al joined me for J. Frank Wilson’s “The Last Kiss”, and The Eagles’ “Peaceful Easy Feeling”.  We received some nice comments; Al has a gift for harmonies—he can make anybody sound good.

6:45 – Alton, Ray & Les – Returned to our stage with Charlie Pride’s “Kiss an Angel Good Morning”; then they played a request, The Oakridge Boys’ “Elvira”; Faron Young’s “Here I am in Dallas”; Buck Owens’ “Love’s Gonna Live Here”; Merle Haggard’s “Working Man Blues”; and “Life’s Railway to Heaven” (Recorded by Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Brad Paisley and others).

7:00 – John Cheney – This was Joe’s first effort at an open mic, he’s a good songwriter but still working at playing an instrument and singing at the same time.  He read the lyrics then played the tunes on his keyboard so we could get an idea what he really wants the song to sound like.  His first song was “West Texas Prairie”, then “Hard Times”.  He finished by playing a medley of “The Wabash Cannonball” and “The Yellow Rose of Texas”.

7:15 – Rose Scibelli – Rose treated us to Ella Fitzgerald’s “Paper Moon”; Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” (with Greg Gross on guitar); Tom Paxton’s “The Love of Loving You”; and finished with “Sentimental Journey”.  Rose chooses her songs well; they complement her voice and playing style.

7:30 – Ray Owens – Ray enjoys doing Neil Young songs; he did “Southern Man”; “After the Gold Rush”; and “Hey, Hey, Hey”; then he did an original he calls “Bend with the Wind”.

7:45 – Bob Wilson – Bob played a tune about the Hoochy-Koochie dancer, “Fatima”; followed by “Lily of the Valley”; and “Hula Lou” about a gal who loved the sailors (Not “Elvis’s Hula Lou from-a Hona-lu”).

8:00 – Karen Rodgers – Karen brought us Catherine Faber’s “Acts of Creation”; “Sidewinder Road”, a great song that she lost track of who the writer is. Then she did her own “Ode to a Muse”; wrapping with Eileen McGann’s “I Think We’re Just too Stupid for Democracy”.

8:15 – Big Al – Al jumped right into his set of the Foo Fighters’ “Times Like These”; The Allman Brothers’ “Sweet Melissa”; The Moody Blues “Nights in White Satin”; and Elton John’s “I Need You to Turn To”.  It was a very nice set.

8:30 – Bob Setzer – Bob once again led off with his electric—he seems to have developed an affinity for it lately—he noodled around for a while (he referred to it as “Strawberry Jam”).  Then picked up his acoustic guitar to play a few more tunes, including his own “Shut the Whole World Out”; and Simon & Garfunkle’s “Richard Cory”; finishing with his own “Dreaming of You”.

8:45 – Becky Williams – Becky had Les Armstrong play harmonica on her first tune, June Carter Cash’s “Ring of Fire”; then she did Dolly Parton’s “Backwoods Barbie”; and  “Jolene”; Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me”; and the classic, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

9:00 – Greg Gross – My co-host was up next; Greg played John McCutcheon’s “Birthday Cake” song for Les Armstrong who was turning seventy-four the next day (the audience sang the birthday song for him earlier in the evening).  Next he went a’ cappella with “The Sound of Singing”; then returned to his guitar for Ken Graydon’s “Three-quarter Time”; and a really cool version of Waylon Jennings “Folsom Prison Blues” that he learned recently.

9:15 – Tom Barbarie with Les Armstrong – Our closing act was Tom with Les giving him some support with really nice leads on his Fender Telecaster.  They did Buck Owens’ “The Kansas City Song”; The Stanley Brothers’ “Just Because”; Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone”; Merle Haggard’s “Silver Wings” and the more traditional version of “Folsom Prison Blues”.

It seemed to be a night for twelve-string guitars; there were three, played by Ray Owens, Karen Rodgers, and Big Al.  We had good music all night long, who can ask for better than that?  God Bless and come by soon.

Tim Woods, Greg Gross, and the Wood ‘n’ Lips open mic crew

Photos by Greg Gross, and Tim Woods